<html><head><title>Introduction</title></head>
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<font face="Arial" size="2"><p align="center"><b><font size="5">Introduction</font></b></p>

PureBasic is an &quot;high-level&quot; programming language based on established &quot;BASIC&quot; rules. 
It is mostly compatible with any other &quot;BASIC&quot; compiler. 
Learning PureBasic is very easy! PureBasic has been created for beginners and experts alike. 
Compilation time is extremely fast. This software has been developed for the Windows operating system. 
We have put a lot of effort into its realization to produce a fast, reliable and system-friendly language. <br>
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The syntax is easy and the possibilities are huge with the &quot;advanced&quot; functions that have been added 
to this language like pointers, structures, procedures, dynamic lists and much more. 
For the experienced coder, there are no problems gaining access to any of the legal OS structures or 
API objects. <br>
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PureBasic is a portable programming language which currently works on Linux, Mac OS X and 
Windows computer systems. This means that the same code can be compiled natively for the OS and 
use the full power of each. There are no bottlenecks like a virtual machine or a code translator, 
the generated code produces an optimized executable. <br>
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<p><b>The main features of PureBasic</b></p><blockquote>


- x86 and x64 support <br>
- Built-in arrays, dynamic lists, complex structures, pointers and variable definitions <br>
- Supported types: Byte (8-bit), Word (16-bit), Long (32-bit), Quad (64-bit), Float (32-bit), Double (64-bit) and Characters <br>
- User defined types (structures) <br>
- Built-in string types (characters), including ascii and unicode <br>
- Powerful macro support <br>
- Constants, binary and hexadecimal numbers supported <br>
- Expression reducer by grouping constants and numeric numbers together <br>
- Standard arithmetic support in respect of sign priority and parenthesis: +, -, /, *, and, or, &lt;&lt;, &gt;&gt; <br>
- Extremely fast compilation <br>
- Procedure support for structured programming with local and global variables <br>
- All Standard BASIC keywords: If-Else-EndIf, Repeat-Until, etc <br>
- Specialized libraries to manipulate BMP pictures, windows, gadgets, DirectX, etc <br>
- Specialized libraries are very optimized for maximum speed and compactness <br>
- The Win32 API is fully supported as if they were BASIC keywords <br>
- Inline Assembler <br>
- Precompiled structures with constants files for extra-fast compilation <br>
- Configurable CLI compiler <br>
- Very high productivity, comprehensive keywords, online help <br>
- System friendly, easy to install and easy to use <br>
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